The present invention relates to holder mounting structures, and more particularly to a structure by which a holder for accommodating a cartridge for use in disk recording or playback devices is mounted on a chassis equipped with optical components.
FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional disk recording or playback device.
A holder 2 has opposite sides of its base end pivoted as at 25, 25a to a chassis 1 equipped with a turntable 73 and a pickup 72. A cartridge 6 having a disk 60 enclosed therein is inserted into the holder 2. In the following description, the direction in which the cartridge 6 is inserted into the holder 2 will be referred to as xe2x80x9cfront,xe2x80x9d and the direction in which the cartridge 6 is unloaded from the holder 2 as xe2x80x9crear.xe2x80x9d
The pivoted portion 25 comprises a first pivot 9 projecting outward from one side plate of the holder 2 and fitted in a bracket 5 fastened to the chassis 1 with a screw 13. The other pivoted portion 25a comprises a second pivot 90 projecting outward from the other side plate of the holder 2 and fitted in a hole 11 in a lug 10 provided upright on the chassis 1. The bracket 5 comprises an support wall 51 orthogonal to the upper surface of the chassis 1 and having a first hole 55 for the first pivot 9 to extend therethrough, and a base 52 having a second hole 57 with the screw 13 inserted therethrough.
To mount the holder 2 on the chassis 1, the first pivot 9 is fitted into the first hole 55 in the bracket 5 in advance. The holder 2 and the bracket 5 in this state are carried toward the chassis 1, the second pivot 90 is fitted into the lug 10 and the bracket 5 is placed on the chassis 1. The screw 13 is then inserted through the second 57 and driven into a screw hole 14 in the chassis 1 to fasten the bracket 5 to the chassis 1. Since the bracket 5 as fitted to the holder 2 is attached to the chassis 1, the screw hole 14 needs to be provided at a position not to be covered with the holder 2.
The conventional device therefore has the following problems.
The screw hole 14 is formed in the chassis 1, as positioned externally of the holder 2. This makes the chassis 1 larger.
If the bracket 5 as fitted to the holder 2 is attached to the chassis 1, both the bracket 5 and the holder 2 must be held by hand for attaching, hence a low work efficiency. In view of this drawback, the applicant conceived the idea of fitting the holder 2 to the bracket 5 which is fastened to the chassis 1 in advance. In this case, it appears feasible to attach the holder 2 to the bracket 5 with opposite side plates 26, 26 of the holder 2 deflected as indicated in FIG. 13, whereas the holder 2 is prepared generally from a steel sheet and is therefore difficult to deflect.
Accordingly, it appears possible to fit the holder 2 to the bracket 5 from lateral one direction without deflecting the side plates 26, 26 as will be described later. However, if the holder 2 backlashes laterally, the disk 60 in the cartridge 6 will not be placed on the turntable 73 accurately, so that there arises a need to restrain the holder 2 from backlashing.
An object of the present invention is to make a holder mountable on a chassis of reduced size with an improved work efficiency and to restrain the holder from backlashing laterally.
A lateral shift restraining piece 53 is positioned on a chassis 1 at a small distance away from an inner side surface of the holder 2, is opposed to a side plate 26 of the holder 2 in a horizontal posture, and is out of opposed relation with the side plate 26 when the holder 2 is in an upright posture.
A pivotal movement restraining piece 54 is elastically deformably provided on the chassis 1 for preventing the holder 2 from opening excessively by the contact of an end thereof with the holder 2 when the holder 2 is pivotally moved upward.
The present invention has the following advantages because of the construction described.
1. To mount the holder 2 on the chassis 1, the holder 2 is positioned upright with the side plate 26 opposed to a support wall 51. The holder 2 is moved laterally toward the support wall 51, causing the support wall 51 to pivotally support the holder as at 25. At this time, the lateral shift restraining piece 53 is not opposed to the side plate 26 and will not interfere with the movement of the holder 2.
Next, the holder 2 is pivotally moved downward about the pivot portion 25. The restraining plate 53 is opposed to the side plate 26, with the holder 2 in its horizontal posture, and is positioned inwardly of the side plate 26, whereby the holder 2 as attached to the support wall 51 is restrained from shifting laterally.
Since the holder 2 can be mounted on the chassis 1 after the support wall 51 is provided on the chassis 1 in advance, there is no need to form a screw hole 14 at a position which will not be covered with the holder 2 as in the prior art. This serves to make the chassis 1 small-sized.
2. When the holder 2 is pivotally moved from the upright posture to the horizontal posture to mount the holder 2 on the chassis 1, the pivotal movement restraining piece 54 is elastically deformed by being pushed by the holder 2, permitting the holder 2 to move past the restraining piece 54. When pivotally moved upward, the holder 2 comes into contact with the end of the pivotal movement restraining member 54, which in turn prevents the holder 2 from opening excessively.
Because the holder 2 mounted on the chassis 1 is restrained from opening to excess in this way, it is unlikely that the holder 2 will be brought to the upright posture to become released from the chassis 1 inadvertently.